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Performance Nutrition and Wearable Trackers

By Jennifer Van Pelt, MA

In 2016, wearable fitness trackers debuted as the No. 1 trend on the American College of Sports Medicine’s (ACSM) list of top 20 fitness trends. Wearables held the top spot on the ACSM’s list in 2017, 2019, and 2020, were third in 2018, and came in second in 2021. As fitness tracker technology has advanced, they’ve remained consistently popular within the fitness industry and with consumers and are projected to be a $3 billion-plus market by 2022. Evolving far beyond their initial daily step-counting function, capabilities have expanded substantially to include such features as heart rate monitoring and nutrition tracking, making wearable technology even more attractive to athletes and vigorous exercisers.

Nutrition functions aren’t yet fully integrated in trackers as other features are, and most current fitness trackers require use of a smartphone to interface with their own or another mobile nutrition app. Wearable integration with nutrition apps are intended to replace manual food diaries. Fitbit, one of the most popular and recognized trackers, has a nutrition function that allows logging of meals, snacks, and water to track hydration, daily calories, and macronutrients. Macronutrient tracking can aid in recovery following endurance training and vigorous sports activities.

The Apple Watch, another of the most popular wearables, can integrate with Lifesum and MyFitnessPal, two useful nutrition tracking apps. Detailed output of daily carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake; meal records; and water intake all can be viewed on the Apple Watch without accessing the app on a phone. With an inexpensive (less than $5/month) subscription, Lifesum provides additional nutrition guidance and diet recommendations personalized for users and their nutrition goals.

With MyFitnessPal, one of the most popular diet apps on any platform, users can track fat, carbohydrates, protein, sugar, fiber, cholesterol, and vitamins. For easier monitoring, the logging of food, water, and nutrient intake and tracking of calorie consumption and calorie burning with exercise are displayed on the watch. A paid subscription (approximately $10/month) to the app gives access to detailed food analyses, data export capabilities, and links to other apps and services. MyFitnessPal also can be integrated with other wearables that don’t have proprietary nutrition tracking apps.

Dedicated performance nutrition wearables recently have been introduced, and more are expected in the near future. The HEALBE GoBe2 and GoBe3 are advertised as the “world’s first smartband to track calorie intake, body hydration, and stress levels automatically without manual logging” and the “world’s only nutrition control smart band.” This tracker uses a proprietary bioimpedance sensor that automatically tracks calorie digestion via the skin and uses algorithms to measure glucose and fluid levels in your bloodstream to provide real-time information on nutrition and hydration. Advertised as being helpful for losing weight, this innovative wearable also can provide valuable information for athletes who track nutrition and hydration to optimize performance.

New sweat sensor technologies are in development for use in wearable wristbands, headbands, clothing, or skin patches to track and analyze electrolytes, metabolites, pH, vitamin C, and other biomarkers related to performance. This new technology would be beneficial for athletes, as real-time notifications about sodium and lactate, for example, could indicate dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and muscle fatigue during endurance training and competition.

Advanced sensor technologies appear to be the next technological innovation in performance nutrition tracking, and professional and consumer options are expected to be available within the next year or two to boost nutrition tracking and monitoring capabilities for athletes and nutrition-conscious exercisers. These technologies also are likely to create opportunities for technology-enhanced performance nutrition coaching.

— Jennifer Van Pelt, MA, is a certified group fitness instructor and health care researcher in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, area.